Irish man with valid US work permit held in ICE detention for five months • Hacker News Board

Re: Irish man with valid US work permit held in ICE detention for five months

#41

Post by ck2 » Mon, Feb 09, 2026, 7:09 PM UTC

No way LA Olympics can happen

Right now ICE hasn't opened any of their human warehouse "internment camps"

and their quota is "only" 3000 souls per day

Now scale that out 1,000 more days and predict what's going down

Every tourist will be a viable target, there are no consequences for arresting people with paperwork, it just meets quota

Heck they could be grabbing athletes, there were some events this year in US where athletes from various countries in Africa could not get visa permits

Re: Irish man with valid US work permit held in ICE detention for five months

#42

Post by mikeyouse » Mon, Feb 09, 2026, 7:10 PM UTC

empath75 wrote: post #21

vilhelm_s wrote: post #17

There is a copy of a court order here which gives more legal details [ https://www.universalhub.com/files/attachments/2026/culleton... ] > The Fifth Circuit has held that the VWP statute “‘unambiguously’ limits an alien’s means of contesting removal solely to an application for asylum.” McCarthy v. Mukasey, 555 F.3d 459, 460 (5th Cir. 2009) (citation omitted). And once an individual violates the terms of the VWP by r…

People should know the legal context of this, which is that the Fifth Circuit is out of step with every other circuit in the country on this.

Two judges on the 5th overturned what ~150 other judges have found, including some extremely right wing Trump-appointed ones. Just shambolic.

https://www.lawdork.com/p/fifth-circuit-immigration-detentio...

Re: Irish man with valid US work permit held in ICE detention for five months

#43

Post by betaby » Mon, Feb 09, 2026, 7:10 PM UTC

bakies wrote: post #23

It's never been about immigration.

But what it is about? What's the end game in detaining lawful workers?

Re: Irish man with valid US work permit held in ICE detention for five months

#44

Post by gamesbrainiac » Mon, Feb 09, 2026, 7:10 PM UTC

We have seen many stories like this. Some doubt the authenticity, but what is evident is that these things are happening again and again with impunity. Perhaps you don't think the situation is bad enough, or the details are exaggerated.

However, the fact that a man can be pulled of the street despite having legal status should be alarming. You don't need to care about the Irishman, but you should care about justice.

Re: Irish man with valid US work permit held in ICE detention for five months

#45

Post by femiagbabiaka » Mon, Feb 09, 2026, 7:12 PM UTC

betaby wrote: post #43

bakies wrote: post #23

It's never been about immigration.

But what it is about? What's the end game in detaining lawful workers?

signal fear, which causes a drop in legal immigration

Re: Irish man with valid US work permit held in ICE detention for five months

#46

Post by jeltz » Mon, Feb 09, 2026, 7:13 PM UTC

johnnyanmac wrote: post #39

Someone1234 wrote: post #16

I'd strongly suggest people read the article instead of discussing the title. - Unsafe conditions in detention. - Detained people fighting over food (due to insufficient amount). - A fake signature(!). Violating a judge's orders. - Multiple US Constitution violations (which, yes, does apply to non-citizens/work-visa holders/even illegal immigrants). This is a "hero case," but if this is happening here, imagine what p…

> I'd strongly suggest people read the article People will just flag it instead, sadly. Concentration camps in full view (or rather, the tip of the iceberg) and people will instead bury their heads.

Yeah, I have definitely noticed that a lot of Americans on HN would rather flag uncomfortable articles about their country.

Re: Irish man with valid US work permit held in ICE detention for five months

#47

Post by ck2 » Mon, Feb 09, 2026, 7:13 PM UTC

profsummergig wrote: post #4

Per article he owns a business. Usually a pre-Green-Card work permit doesn't allow that (you need a GC to own a business). This article is an example of sophisticated co-mingling of facts and omissions, designed to obfuscate the context.

btw Musk overstayed a Canadian student visa to work in the USA, both illegal

and historically documentable

there's probably good reason he's writing 5 Million dollar checks a pop to various PACs

Re: Irish man with valid US work permit held in ICE detention for five months

#48

Post by balozi » Mon, Feb 09, 2026, 7:14 PM UTC

As presented, that dude's story as makes little sense to anyone familiar with the immigration process. There is more to this story, I wish the reporter would just tell it.

Re: Irish man with valid US work permit held in ICE detention for five months

#49

Post by runjake » Mon, Feb 09, 2026, 7:15 PM UTC

This is the location he is lodged at. Note the tents don't yet appear in the imagery.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/toWTEuEPDXigwwr78

https://maps.apple.com has higher resolution imagery, but note the location is mismarked (the old facility was by the airport).

Re: Irish man with valid US work permit held in ICE detention for five months

#50

Post by Daishiman » Mon, Feb 09, 2026, 7:17 PM UTC

betaby wrote: post #43

bakies wrote: post #23

It's never been about immigration.

But what it is about? What's the end game in detaining lawful workers?

Paving the way for arbitrary detentions and concentration camps.